The plot against Aurangzeb

Marathi historian Indrajit Sawant enraged quite a few in Maharashtra with his criticism of Chhaava a biopic of Chhatrapati Sambhaji the Maratha king who was betrayed to the Mughals at Sangameshwar nabbed with his minister Kavi Kalash and executed on Aurangzebrsquos order on March 15 1689 In an interview to a YouTube channel Sawant said Sambhajirsquos hideout was disclosed to the Mughals by Brahmins not the ShirkeMaratha clan as Chhaava depictsSawant allegedly received a call from one Prashant Koratkar who hurled casteist slurs on Sawant for implicating Brahmins in the treachery against Sambhaji He also challenged Sawant to tell the world what academic James Laine wrote in his book Shivaji Hindu King in Islamic India which had created a furore in 2004 A case has been filed against KoratkarIndeed the controversy over Hindutva groupsrsquo demand to demolish Aurangzebrsquos grave at Khuldabad serves the purpose of papering over the conflicting BrahminMaratha claims about who betrayed Sambhaji I dive deep into Maratha history to unravel the plot against Aurangzeb so to speakSawantrsquos claim that Brahmins betrayed Sambhaji is based on Memoirs of Francois Martin French Founder of Pondicherry extracts of which are in Jadunath Sarkarrsquos House of Shivaji Martin notes that Brahmin ministers secretly asked the Mughals to position troops at a spot in Sangameshwar where Sambhaji was enticed to go on a hunt He was ambushed and capturedYet surprisingly Sarkar in The History of Aurangzib Volume IV 1930 names the Shirkes for organising the ldquoambuscaderdquo without explaining why he set aside the version of Martin a contemporary of Sambhaji Sarkar nevertheless writes of repeated attempts of Sambhajirsquos ministers to overthrow him Martin identifies these ministers to be largely Brahmin who considered Sambhaji as their ldquodeclared enemyrdquo and opposed his accession to the throne in July 1681A month later there was an attempt to kill Sambhaji Sarkar narrates the story A boy fed his servant and a dog from a dish of fish prepared for Sambhaji Both of them died The boyrsquos warning saved Sambhaji who found that the plot to poison him was masterminded by Annaji Datto a Brahmin minister who had been granted clemency weeks agoAnnaji acted in tandem with 20 other officials and seemingly enjoyed the consent of Soyra Bai Sambhajirsquos stepmother Not all the conspirators were Brahmin but with Annaji playing the lead role the plot to assassinate Sambhaji was and is still viewed as BrahminicalSambhaji had most of the conspirators bound in chains and trampled upon by elephants Yet the conspiracies against Sambhaji didnrsquot abate This was why in October 1684 Gangadhar Pant Vasudev Pandit Sahuji SomnathmdashBrahmins allmdashand Manoji More whose caste identity is ambiguous were ldquoconfined until deathrdquo In 1689 Sambhaji arrested Prahlad Niraji a Brahmin for instigating the Shirkes to rebel After crushing the rebellion Sambhaji retired to SangameshwarMartin writes that to some of Sambhajirsquos leading Brahmin officers a secret compact with the Mughal emperorrsquos officers ldquoappeared less criminal than carrying out of the murder themselvesrdquo Perhaps they feared alienating the Maratha populace This was how the seeds of hatred were sown against Aurangzeb now in full bloomAll contemporary accounts agree that Sambhaji was brutally executed on Aurangzebrsquos order but differ in their explanation for his decision Saqi Mustaid Khan in MaasiriAlamgiri completed three years after Aurangzebrsquos death in 1707 says Sambhaji was blinded because he had escaped with Shivaji in 1666 from Mughal custody And then again in 1678 Sambhaji crossed over to Mughal general Diler Khan only to return to Chhatrapati Shivaji later Aurangzeb presumably didnrsquot want the intrepid Sambhaji to escape again He and Kavi Kalash were subsequently ldquoexecuted by the swordrdquo Saqi saysThe story becomes ghastlier with time testifying to historical narratives being constantly rewritten Ishwar Das Nagarrsquos FatuhatiAlamgiri written four decades after Saqirsquos magnum opus says Aurangzeb became miffed with Sambhaji because of his refusal to disclose where his wealth was concealed and the identity of Mughal officers with whom he would secretly correspond Instead Nagar writes ldquothat haughty man opened his mouth in shameful and vain words about his majestyrdquo Aurangzeb in pique ordered Sambhaji to be blinded by driving ldquonails into his two eyesrdquoThereupon Sambhaji refused to take food On hearing about his defiance Aurangzeb ordered Sambhajirsquos limbs to be hacked one after another His ldquosevered head was publicly exposedrdquo in the Deccan and ldquotaken to Delhi and hung on the gate of that cityrdquo Nagar writes Martin too notes that he heard Sambhajirsquos head had been publicly displayed at GolcondaTherersquos another backstory After Prince Akbar rebelled against his father Aurangzeb he took refuge with Sambhaji inviting the Mughalrsquos wrath The brutality of Aurangzebrsquos vengeance against Sambhaji differed only in degrees from that the latter administered to Annaji Datto For an era in which no quarter was given to rivals would it make sense today for Hindutva groups to demonise Brahmins for betraying Sambhaji Or for them to decry the king who cruelly killed Brahmin ministers centuries ago But hating Aurangzeb makes sense for otherwise new villains might be unearthed from historymdashand their communities loathed thus undermining Hindutvarsquos Hindu unity projectThe writer is a senior journalist and author of Bhima Koregaon Challenging CasteSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper